Taken By Surprise (Taken Trilogy Book 1)

by Jessica Frances

  “You sure she’s not tired from staying up all night with Charlie doing the naked dance?” Rose teases. I hadn’t noticed her behind Charlie.

  “Shut up, Rose.” Charlie pulls my arm over his shoulder which makes me stretch out since he’s so much taller than I am. He has to crouch over just so my feet can still touch the ground. Luckily, the side being stretched out is my left side so it doesn’t jolt my bruised right side too much.

  How can I still feel tired when I have just slept for eight hours straight?

  “You sure you’re okay?” Charlie speaks softly so no one else can hear.

  “Yeah, I’m just hungry.” I haven’t eaten since yesterday and even that was just what I ate at dinner.

  “I wonder if we’ll both get to walk in here on our own one day,” Charlie jokes and I smile back at him.

  “Maybe tomorrow will be our day.”

  I sit down in what is now, I assume, going to be my usual chair and look down at the hot stir fry in front of me. It smells good. I start eating and then glance at both Rose and Will. They look tired as well. Martha has a plate of food, too, and is smiling sweetly at us while she watches us dig in.

  “So, how did you all enjoy your first day then?” Martha asks us.

  “It was absolutely splendid. A screaming match with Stan about a blood test this morning and then torture while you made me run all afternoon for a supposed fitness test.” Rose glares at Martha.

  “Don’t forget all the times you fell over during the fight training,” Charlie chimes in, causing Rose to turn her glare towards him.

  “I definitely won’t forget how I beat you every time we fought.”

  “I let you.”

  “You keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.” Rose continues glaring at him.

  “What about you, Will? I hear you did quite well in the fitness tests,” Martha interrupts Rose and Charlie before they can get into a proper fight.

  Will shrugs, however doesn’t verbally answer Martha.

  “Stanley said you were able to run for five hours. They only stopped you because of the blackout that caused the data to be lost.” Martha’s eyes narrow briefly at Charlie, however seconds later she is all smiles.

  “Hey, I can’t always control when I cause a blackout.” Charlie shrugs.

  “Yes, we will be doing our best to change that.”

  We eat in silence then as her words put us all in deep thought. When will the testing start? What will it involve? How much longer do we have to get out of here before it’s too late?

  “Are my parents kicking up a fuss at home?” Rose asks Martha, curiosity and perhaps hope taking over her features. I haven’t known Rose very long, but she seems strong minded and independent. Right now, I can see a scared girl missing her home.

  “Rose, you aren’t allowed to call home and no matter how you manipulate this conversation that won’t change,” Martha snaps, breaking her caring facade briefly.

  “I’m not trying to manipulate you. I’m just curious how people are taking me going missing.” Rose starts to close up her feelings and I watch the scared girl disappear from her face as anger replaces the fear.

  “I believe your parents have been quite vocal, particularly to the press, about your disappearance.”

  Rose smiles happily when she hears that, but it quickly turns to a sad smile.

  “What about my Dad? Is he okay?” Charlie quickly questions Martha.

  “He is very worried about you, understandably so.”

  “Even if we can’t talk to them, can’t you get them a message that we’re safe?”

  “No, anything like that will have them asking questions and for their own safety they can’t ask those questions. Right now their grief at not knowing what has happened to you is keeping them safe.”

  I consider asking Martha about Mom, but I can’t bring myself to say anything out loud. Do I want to hear that she knows I’ve been taken and is worried sick? Or that she hasn’t asked any questions about my whereabouts and has assumed I’ve run away? They’re the only options really, and I don’t want to know which is right.

  Charlie looks at both Will and I and it’s an easy guess that he is curious as to why we never ask Martha about our own situations. I know what my reason is, but I look closely at Will and wonder about his. His eyes are carefully staring down at his mostly empty plate and the way his body is slightly moving makes me think his legs are bouncing up and down under the table. It’s either a nervous tick or he’s bored.

  Will is hard to get a read on. His appearance keeps changing to me. Sometimes he appears incredibly young and scared, other times he looks strong and older than me. His jaw is sharp and his eyes hard. His hair still looks wild, although for some reason it suits him. He is way too skinny, yet even without visible muscles he sends out a vibe of strength. He said on the first day we met that he didn’t have parents, so who does he have? Who is this boy that keeps so much to himself?

  When dinner is finished, Martha asks to speak to Will privately and I think I can guess what she’s going to be picking his brain about. I hear Drew’s words echo through my mind about not being alone with Martha, but I also don’t know what we’re supposed to do about it. While we’re stuck here we’re also stuck with her and at her disposal.

  They leave to go down the hallway, most likely into his room. Charlie helps me slowly move over to the couch. Having my stomach full of warm food is making me feel tired again.

  He eases me down and I close my eyes as my body starts to lean over until I’m partly resting on Charlie’s side after he sits down next to me. Our roles have reversed from yesterday.

  “You know you guys do make a cute couple.”

  “Shut up, Rose,” Charlie sighs, he sounds worn down and there isn’t much annoyance behind his words this time.

  “No, listen. Every great couple these days has a portmanteau, a blending of names. Yours are kind of boring, but I know one that works.”

  “No one cares,” Charlie growls.

  “Black Eye. Get it? Blackout and Third Eye.” Rose laughs and I would have rolled my eyes if they had been open.

  “Do you seriously have nothing better to do than think up stupid names?” Charlie complains.

  “Hello? We’ve been kidnapped and are being held prisoner in this hellhole, of course I have nothing better to do.”

  I can imagine the look Rose is giving Charlie and I let their bickering lull me to sleep.

  ***

  “What happened?” Charlie’s voice wakes me and I reluctantly open my eyes and watch Will walking back out into the lounge area. He shrugs and Martha glides past him, looking down over Charlie and me.

  “Feel up for a talk, Zoe?”

  “Not really.”

  “That’s okay, we can chat tomorrow. Since Charlie seems to be your pillow I’ll talk with Rose next.”

  “Great,” Rose remarks sarcastically, but she does stand up and follow Martha back down the corridor, heading to our rooms.

  “Sorry.” I force myself off Charlie’s arm, which I’ve been using for a pillow, again.

  “Don’t be; you’re like my own personal heater.”

  “What did Martha want with you?” I ask Will, afraid she has poisoned his mind like future Drew warned.

  “Just to talk. When are we getting out of here?” Will whispers to us, leaning from behind us over the back part of the couch so he still has a view of the television.

  Charlie grabs the remote and turns the volume up. “We need a plan. Drew might have said security was lax, but there still is security. We need an exit strategy.”

  “How on earth do we get an exit strategy?” I think about the fact that none of us have any expertise in any of this. How are we supposed to outwit Stan, Martha, all the guards and security they have here?

  “I don’t know, but we have to think of something fast.”

  “Rose is some great hacker, right? So if she can get word out, maybe we can be saved? It’s not like the
se guys are actually from the government; they’re rogue, right?”

  “And where do you expect Rose to get word out from? I don’t see anything she can hack around here.”

  “So that should be our mission, find Rose a computer.”

  “Sounds easy.” I roll my eyes, but know this is the best suggestion we have. I notice my side is back to leaning on Charlie and this time I can’t manage to move away.

  “Come on, you need to get proper sleep in an actual bed, I think.” Charlie stands up and holds out his hand to me. I let him pull me upwards until I’m standing. He leads me down the hall and I call out a quick goodnight to Will who says he’ll pass along what we’ve talked about to Rose. The volume on the TV is still up loud and my ears are ringing when Will turns it back down.

  I stop us in my doorway and again feel the same emotions I had earlier. I can’t sleep on the bed Drew died on.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t sleep on that bed, not after…” I let my voice trail off, not wanting to say something wrong when someone is most likely listening. The hall light is still on so I know the power isn’t off.

  “Oh right, of course. Umm…” Charlie looks around us. “Do you want to take my room? I can stay in here.” I look up at Charlie and see him eyeing the bed the same way I imagine I looked when I saw it, freaked out.

  “No, I can’t do that to you. Besides, I don’t even have any linen to give you since we wrapped up…” I again stop myself from saying anything incriminating.

  “Well, what do you want to do?”

  “I’ll just stay on the floor again, it wasn’t so bad.”

  “I think it was, my back was killing me all day from that. You can’t spend another night doing that.”

  “I guess I can sleep on the couch out in the lounge.” I frown, though, thinking that I had just slept uncomfortably on that all day.

  “Look, seriously, just take my bed.”

  “No, I can’t do that.” I shake my head, refusing to kick Charlie out of his own bed. That isn’t fair.

  “Why not?”

  “I feel bad taking your bed away, please just forget it.”

  “Why don’t we both just sleep in my room?”

  “What?” I wasn’t expecting those words.

  “We can both just stay in my bed.” Charlie shuffles on his feet and looks away from me while he moves his hand through his hair. He’s nervous.

  “I don’t think that’s any better an idea.” I let my brain speak for me since my body wants nothing more than to go to his bed.

  “I’m a good sleeper and you’re small. I don’t think it’ll be weird. Besides—” Charlie leans closer to me and speaks softly into my ear sending shivers down my body. “—they already think that we’re, you know. This will just help cement it for them.”

  “I don’t…” I try to think up a good reason not to. It’ll definitely be weird. As tired as I am, knowing he is next to me will mean I won’t sleep and what if I wake up in the same position as this morning? I can’t get attached to Charlie. Our goal is to get out of this place, to escape. A relationship won’t work at all, not to mention the fact that the last guy I liked tried to kill me.

  “Come on, we’re both adults here and I don’t see any other solution.” Again Charlie leans close to me and whispers, “We can just give it a shot for tonight and figure something else out tomorrow night if we’re still here.”

  I look back at my room and shiver. Really, what would be the harm in this? Nothing is going to happen and Charlie is right, we’re both adults.

  “Okay. Let me just brush my teeth and stuff.” I push past him slowly, determined to do this on my own.

  I feel Charlie’s eyes on me until I make it to my bathroom and then sigh in relief as the walls in there protect me from his gaze. I remove my clothes and examine my bruise, as well as the one on my arm from the needle. I shiver, thinking about needles, and take a shower even though I have already done so this morning. I change and brush my teeth while slowly freaking out about this new arrangement.

  What if I snore? What if I kick him in my sleep or something? A single mattress doesn’t leave you much room.

  I take a deep breath and shrug on a long sleeved shirt over my sweats and walk to Charlie’s door. I’m still standing outside it when Rose walks out of her room with Martha.

  “Not sleeping in your room tonight, Zoe?” Rose innocently questions.

  “What?” My eyes widen and I instantly want to lie and say I am. I don’t want her to know Charlie’s and my arrangement. I don’t want them to judge me, to judge us. If my bed didn’t have someone just die on it, I would not be doing this, I would be staying in my own room. This is my last resort, right?

  “You heard me. You guys have fun and please try not to make too much noise.” Rose winks at me as she passes, walking towards the lounge area. Martha watches me carefully, standing in front of Charlie’s closed door before she finally says goodnight and walks away from me.

  I wonder what she’s thinking, but am snapped from that train of thought when Charlie suddenly opens the door and scares me half to death.

  “Are you okay?” Charlie’s voice is concerned.

  I look over him, feeling like all the air in my lungs just suddenly disappeared. He’s standing in just dark blue sweatpants and a plain, fitted grey t-shirt. My eyes take in his arms and I see he’s perfectly tanned and while he doesn’t have bulging muscles, he definitely doesn’t look weak. I move my eyes to his chest. The tight shirt shows off his large shoulders and I instantly want to move into them. His previous clothing hadn’t revealed how good looking his body is. I hadn’t even noticed when I helped him get around yesterday.

  “Zoe?” Charlie looks even more concerned and I’m horrified at myself for openly gawking at his body. How embarrassing.

  “Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking.” I decide it’s best not to mention that my thoughts were about how incredibly hot he is and how attracted I feel towards him right now.

  I follow him back into his room, knowing my body is aching to rest, but also knowing I won’t be getting it in this bed. I’m going to be acutely aware of every move I make. Knowing Charlie is next to me will drive me crazy.

  I watch him move around the other side of the single bed, which I think is getting smaller right in front of me. How on earth are both of us supposed to fit on this thing?

  I follow suit and hesitantly pull the covers down, looking forward to getting my cold feet off the tiled floor. I should have worn socks.

  I climb in and then hug the edge of the mattress while Charlie also gets in. His legs brush mine a couple of times then after a bit of adjusting, it stops and I’m clear of any touching.

  I hold my breath when he turns out the light and wonder how long it’ll take for him to fall asleep. I could just wait for that and then move out onto the couch.

  “Good night, Zoe.” I shiver hearing his voice so close to me and hope he hadn’t been able to notice that my body did that.

  “Night, Charlie. Thanks for letting me stay here.”

  “Anytime.”

  I close my eyes, feeling tired, and think to myself that I’ll give it an hour and then leave. I can always make up a story tomorrow about not being able to sleep and that’ll be the end of it.

  Chapter Twenty-Four – The Headache

  Thursday, 12th April

  A sharp pain in my head jolts me awake.

  “Zoe?” A dark figure crouches down beside me.

  I pull my hand to my head and groan in pain. Why does my head hurt so much? Am I lying on the floor?

  “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there. Are you okay?” Charlie’s voice is easier to make out now, however the pain refuses to fade.

  “What are you doing on the ground? Are you okay?” He keeps asking me questions and I can’t seem to concentrate hard enough to answer even one. Why is my head pounding so much?

  “Oh, crap. Stay here. I’ll get Harold.”

  I quickly r
each out, managing to grab Charlie’s ankle. Part of me is still confused about what’s going on, but a small part of me knows I don’t want to see Harold again. I don’t trust him and I know my instincts are right. Something is off about him, too.

  “No.” I try to sound commanding, but I barely manage a whisper. My mouth is so dry and I’m suddenly dying for some water.

  “Zoe, what is it?” Charlie crouches back down next to me.

  “Don’t leave. I’m okay,” I manage to croak out. I clear my throat, ignoring the way doing so makes my head ache.

  “You’ve got a head injury; you need to see Harold—”

  “What’s going on in here?” Rose’s voice sounds far harsher than Charlie’s and makes the pounding in my head feel worse.

  “I didn’t see her on the ground and she got hit in the head with the door.” Charlie stands up, facing Rose.

  I got hit in the head with a door? Well that sounds stupid.

  “You hit her in the head with the door?” Unsurprisingly, Rose sounds like she is accusing Charlie rather than just repeating back what he said with surprise.

  “It was an accident. I think she needs to get it checked out. Go and find Harold.”

  “What’s wrong with your legs?”

  “Please, Rose.” Charlie crouches back down next to me and one of his arms wraps behind my shoulders while another is tucked under my knees. His shirt brushes my face and I can slightly smell his natural scent mixed in with maybe some sweat. It has a calming effect on me. How can something like that make me feel so safe when I’ve only known this person for two days?

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Rose snaps at him.

  “Moving her onto the bed. She can’t be comfortable on the floor.”

  “Leave her alone, you shouldn’t move someone with a head injury until they’ve been checked out.”

  “Well hurry up then.” I hear annoyance in Charlie’s voice as his arms move slowly away from my body. Rose rushes out of the room, but not before glaring one last time at him.

  “Why am I on the floor? Did I fall over?” My voice continues to sound hoarse and I try to swallow to loosen it up.